


Finding Memories

by Goddess47



Series: The Hale Vault [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25061599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goddess47/pseuds/Goddess47
Summary: The Hale Vault needed some organization. Luckily, Stiles and Derek had some free time on their hands.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: The Hale Vault [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/840141
Comments: 2
Kudos: 88
Collections: Full Moon Ficlet Prompt #387: React, Sunshine Challenge





	Finding Memories

**Author's Note:**

> For Full Moon Ficlet 387: React and Sunshine_Challenge #1: Red

For once, life was quiet and Stiles and Derek had time to do _nothing_.

But Derek knew Stiles well enough to know that _Stiles_ and _nothing_ were a recipe for disaster.

"Come to the Vault with me?" Derek asked. 

"Sleep... I want to sleep..." Stiles whined. He hugged his pillow closer. "Come back to bed... Sle-e-e-e-ep..."

Derek leaned over and dropped a small kiss on Stiles' forehead. "Okay, I'll bring you some curly fries when I come back. I have some things I'd like to do in the Vault."

Stiles eyes opened, then narrowed. "You'd get curly fries without me?"

Derek shrugged. "You don't need to come," he replied mildly. "You sleep, and I'll bring you some later."

Stiles hrm'phd and demanded, "Curly fries before _and_ after. Whatever it is you're looking to do." He waved a hand vaguely.

Derek bit back a grin. He gave a loud sigh. "I suppose we could do that..."

Stiles bounced out of bed and said, "Give me five minutes to get ready."

It was more like twenty, but Derek didn't mind. 

At the diner, Derek had bacon and eggs -- since it was breakfast time -- but Stiles had a mound of curly fries and a bacon cheese burger. No one batted an eye, they were used to Stiles by now.

Since it was a summer Saturday, the school grounds were deserted and they got into the Vault without being seen.

"What are you looking for?" Stiles asked.

"Nothing in particular," Derek admitted. "Figured I should spend some time here and go through some of the boxes that aren't cataloged."

"Sure," Stiles agreed. "Point me at something and I can help."

Derek looked around. "How about that bookcase?" He pointed to a tall set of shelves that held stacks of books, papers, and a variety of objects. "The actual organization isn't important, do whatever you think makes sense." He looked around and found a pad of paper and a pen. "Make a list of what's here and if something should be moved, we can do that later."

Stiles took the pad. "Okay, I can do that! What are you going to do?"

"Pretty much the same thing with some of the boxes over there," Derek replied, pointing. "I'm guessing they got put here and someone was going to 'take care of them later' and, well, later never happened."

Stiles nodded. 

Looking at the shelves, Stiles decided the simplest place to start was with the objects. If he took them off the shelves, he'd have space to work on the rest of what was there.

As he worked, he realized the shelves were deeper than they originally looked. There was a second layer behind what could be seen.

Most of the objects fell into what Stiles considered the 'knickknack' category. Things that people bought as decorations but either became out of date or didn't fit a new decorating scheme. There was a box of similar things in the Stilinski attic that his mom had around the house at one point that she had stored away. Neither of the Stilinski men knew what to do with it all, but neither wanted to part with it.

On the other hand, Stiles knew enough about magic to know that an object could serve another purpose entirely. So he handled everything gently, trying to 'feel' for any magical signatures. He didn't come across anything obviously magical, but he figured they could check them out better later.

The books he stacked in one place, needing a place to sit down and look at each one carefully to figure out what they were. Rather than lose himself in reading just yet, he deliberately didn't open any of the books. Many looked like hardcover books -- novels, biographies, self-help books, textbooks, with a good number of unidentified books. Stiles wanted to look at the unidentified books but knew he had a task to complete first.

That left a stack of paper, that also would need time -- and better light -- to go through carefully. There was no telling what some of the papers were for. He found an empty box to put them into, to keep them together.

Hidden behind the books and papers was a set of six binders, with deep red covers and with the Hale triskele stamped on the cover. Stiles pulled one down and opened it, to find they were photograph albums. Starting on one end of the grouping, he opened one to find old, yellowed pictures of Hales from long ago. 

Hoping, Stiles reached for the red binder on the other end of the set. He found newer pictures, not yet aged. Toward the end of the album he found pictures that had to be of Derek and his family as a child. He smiled.

He took the album and went to where Derek was working. 

"Hey!" Stiles said softly. "You should see this!" He held the album out.

Stiles knew Derek well enough by now to not be surprised by his immediate reaction.

"Stiles! I thought we lost those..." he whispered, eye wide. _... in the fire..._

"There's a whole set of these," Stiles pointed back to the shelf he had been working on. "These look like you and I had to see if you knew they were there."

Derek shook his head and carefully took the album from Stiles. "No..." 

"How about we take them with us," Stiles suggested. "We can go through them at home and you can tell me more about your family."

Derek nodded and smiled.


End file.
